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Monday, January 17, 2011

BOV: Hansel & Gretel: An Opera Fantasy

I don't know about you, but the story of Hansel and Gretel kinda freaked me out when I was a child. First you're taken into the woods and then abandoned by your parents. Next you encounter a witch hellbent on making you her supper.

Course, as with most children's fairytales, it end up well. The witch meets her fate by getting shoved into the oven and the children are reunited with their father (who was against the whole abandonment plan in the first place)

On that note, here's a 1954 stop motion animated short based on Engelbert Humperdinck's opera Hänsel und Gretel. The special effects were created by Ray Harryhausen and the part of the witch was sung by English-Canadian singer and comedienne Anna Russell.